Gathering

Day 5


Professor Margaret Walsh sat in her office, writing her report. Several nights ago something had happened inside the Initiative…and it was her job to find out what. From what she and others had been able to glean from the handful of survivors was that Forrest and several others had discovered 'something' in one of the caves and brought it back for analysis…and the 'something' had woken up. Descriptions were sketchy at best; some said that it looked like a giant cocoon, others that it resembled the Moth-man of West Virginia, among other places. She’d ask Forrest himself but for the fact that he was missing, as was Finn and almost a hundred others.

The floors and walls of the complex were coated in blood with not a body to be found. She and several commanding officers had discovered the twenty-three survivors huddled in one of the holding cells, some terrified to the point of catatonia. What could so petrify so many seasoned soldiers who dealt with hostiles and sub-terrestrials on a nightly basis? Maggie had no idea.

Locking the report in a hidden safe she locked her office and headed home, her mind a whirl of thoughts. She was so preoccupied that she never heard the rustle of wings in the darkness or the steady approach of booted footsteps on the sidewalk behind her until she was grabbed from behind and a clawed hand tore her throat out.

"The False God," a voice growled.